Trump Hints at Making Rubio Cuba’s Next Leader, Issues Fresh Warning
US President Donald Trump has hinted at making Secretary of State Marco Rubio the future leader of Cuba by sharing another person’s post on social media.
At the same time, Trump warned that Cuba would face a difficult situation if it does not reach an agreement quickly.
On Sunday (11 January), Trump shared a post dated January 8 by a user named Cliff Smith on his social media platform Truth Social.
The post read, “Marco Rubio will be the President of Cuba.”
Sharing the post, Trump commented, “Sounds good to me.”
According to a report by the news agency AFP, by sharing the post Trump indicated Cuban-born US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a potential future leader of the country.
Around the same time, Trump issued a strong warning to Cuba in another post on Truth Social.
Trump wrote, “No more oil or money will go to Cuba. I strongly urge them to reach an agreement before it is too late.”
He further wrote, “For many years, Cuba has received huge amounts of oil and financial assistance from Venezuela. In return, it has provided security to the last two Venezuelan dictators. But that will no longer happen.”
Trump also said that most members of the Cuban security forces deployed in Venezuela were killed in a recent US military operation, and that Venezuela no longer needs protection from Cuba.
One week ago, US forces detained Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Following this incident, tensions have been prevailing in US relations with Cuba and other Latin American countries.
AFP reports that due to US commercial sanctions since 2000, Cuba became dependent on Venezuela. Under an agreement signed with then Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, Cuba had been receiving oil assistance for a long time.
In the current situation, Trump has indicated that this dependence is coming to an end.
